'Popular' Obama Abandons Wisconsin Unions

As Charles Krauthammer said last night on Fox News, “In Wisconsin, Obama literally mailed it in.” Actually, Obama tweeted it in. Though public sector unions throughout the country broke their backs and piggy banks to win him the presidency in 2008, ever the calculating politician willing to throw his supporters under that over-crowded bus, Obama refused to show up and rally for the Wisconsin rank-and-file for fear a loss might give him a bad news cycle or two.

Even though the corrupt MSM changed their tune after polls showed a likely Scott Walker blow out, that didn’t change the fact that last night’s recall election was the last stand for Public Sector Unions. Wisconsin is a liberal state Obama won by 14 points and, if unions can’t win there, they’re unlikely to prevail almost anywhere else.

Granted, it’s unlikely in-state rallies led by Obama might have made a difference to last night’s outcome. Walker trounced his Democrat challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, by a full seven points. But here’s where Obama might have helped his union supporters save quite a bit of face:

Last night, Walker beat Barrett by a wider margin than when the two men first squared off in 2010. To lose by a wider margin is the most devastating of all rebukes to public unions — their Waterloo. What Obama could’ve done by doing what he does best — simply showing up and voting present — would’ve been to shrink Walker’s margin.

At the very least, had Barrett managed to narrow the margin over the 2010 results, Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) would’ve had a talking point that said Walker’s reforms had cost him support.

That, at least, is something.

If anything, just knowing the President had their back and was in the trenches fighting for them as hard as they fought for him would’ve at least bolstered the morale of union members. Instead, he very publicly and cynically abandoned them.

What should be especially galling to public union members is that, over this last crucial weekend, Obama was but a two-hour drive away from Wisconsin as he gorged on a record fundraising binge with the Top 1%. But the President couldn’t be bothered to make a single stop. Rather than risk even temporary political capital, Obama assumed his favorite position, looked out for himself, and left his union supporters swinging in the wind. But…